The owner of a pair of XL Bully dogs which savaged a blind spaniel in Dunblane has been detained.
Aidan Lewis’s American Bully dogs were unmuzzled and unleashed on a public walkway when the incident occurred in the Braemar Park area in March.
Lewis, 20, had been issued with a dog control notice only four months before, after an earlier incident in which his “strong” animals escaped from his garden and seriously injured another dog.
Savage attack
Stirling Sheriff Court heard the blind six-year-old cocker spaniel, Maggie, was being walked on the lead by her owner, Jayne Emery, on the path at 12.20 pm on March 11.
Prosecutor Tiffany Chisholm said Ms Emery saw Lewis’s XL Bullys, Nova and Coco, “running towards her” while Lewis shouted at them to come back.
Ms Emery, 30, realising Maggie was about to be attacked and tried to pick her up but before she could, Novo and Coco set upon the smaller dog, biting the neck and stomach.
Miss Chisholm said Ms Emery, an accountant, began “screaming” for help.
Lewis and Ms Emery both tried to pull the dogs off but “due to the dogs’ strength they were unable to”.
A passer-by who heard Ms Emery’s screams rushed to the scene.
He put Maggie in his car and together with Ms Emery, took her to a vet, where she was found to have multiple puncture wounds to her neck and muscles and an abdominal hernia.
An X-ray revealed further internal injuries and Ms Emery decided it would be best to have her euthanised.
The police were contacted and Lewis was cautioned and made no reply
‘He’s had sleepless nights’
Lewis, a first offender, of Albert Street, Dunblane, pled guilty to allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control and breaching the Dog Control Notice served on him by Stirling Council.
Solicitor Frazer McCready, defending, said his client was “horrified and appalled” at what his dogs had done and had them put down.
He said: “He describes it as ‘the worst thing he’s ever seen’ and he did what he could to stop the attack.
“He accepts Ms Emery was distraught and will continue to be distraught.”
He said Lewis had no other dogs and had no intention of getting any.
“He has had sleepless nights as a result of this incident.
“He clearly acted in a reckless manner by having the dogs off the lead and not muzzled.”
Sentencing
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson sentenced Lewis to four months youth custody, and banned him from owning dogs for ten years.
He told Lewis: “Despite (the Dog Control Notice) you continued to walk your dogs unleashed, with the horrific incident unfolding and the tragic aftermath resulting in the spaniel being euthanised.
“Anyone who flouts or deliberately disregards the law surrounding dangerous dogs must be aware they are at grave risk of losing their liberty.
“There is serious public concern surrounding these dogs, and the law will be enforced.”
He said he “one shuddered to think” what might have happened had Ms Emery held onto her dog.
“There is no room when dealing with dangerous dogs such as yours for the view that the law does not apply to you, or that you think you know better, or that you think that your dogs will not attack.”
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